SHE IS BACK!

Are we ready to have Elton John perform "The Bitch is Back" at the inaugural ball?

Photo from feministing.com

Condoleezza Rice is pure political gold!

Democrats who think it's going to be a cakewalk into the White House next November had best remember one name: Condoleezza Rice.

John McCain is a formidable candidate in his own right, but if he has the political imagination to do it, he can cause the party of Jefferson and Jackson indescribable angst with Rice as his vice-presidential pick. Read full story in the Nation

Dr. Condoleezza Rice became Secretary of State on January 26, 2005. Prior to this, she was the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor, since January, 2001.
Read more about Dr. Rice

Rice and the issues: War, Terrorism, Abortion...

The World's 100 Most Powerful Women

From Forbes
By Elizabeth MacDonald and Chana R. Schoenberger 08.30.07, 6:00 PM ET

For the second year in a row Angela Merkel (in photo),
the first woman to become chancellor of Germany, ranks No. 1 on our list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women. She continued to impress the world with her cool leadership at two back-to-back summits, and stuck to her principles, getting G-8 leaders to agree to significant cuts in carbon emissions, among other things. She later corralled European Union countries into an agreement on a treaty to replace the E.U. constitution. More...


In second place is China's vice premier, Wu Yi.

Ho Ching,Chief executive, Temasek Holdings of Singapore is third.

Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State of U.S., is ranked fourth.

Indra K. Nooyi Chairman, chief executive, Pepsi in the U.S. is ranked fifth.

Many of the women listed are political leaders, but even more are business leaders and approximately half are from the U.S.A.

According to the Forbes article it may be easier for a women in the US to rise in the business ranks than in politics.

However statistics indicate that women in the USA still earn 25% less than men. MS Magazine points out that “Despite comprising about 50 percent of students at law schools, women make up only 16 percent of top-level law partners today. Corporate America is similar, with women holding just 16 percent of top-officer slots, and it's even worse at the very top, where women hold a paltry 2 percent of CEO positions in the Fortune 500.”

The Forbes article continues to state “U.S. Sen. and former first lady Hillary Clinton (No. 25) may make history by winning the Democratic presidential nomination. But will she make history again by winning the presidency? Clinton might have had a better shot at it if she were born in England, Germany, India, Pakistan or Israel. Women who operate in these parliamentary systems of government have had an easier time getting to the top because they are handpicked by their colleagues in their countries' ruling party, not by an entire country of voters in national elections.”

Albeit, there are several countries with female heads of state that have come to power by democratic elections. For example Cristina Fernández de Kirchner the president of Argentina; Michelle Bachelet (No. 27) president of Chile; Tarja Halonen (No. 50) president of Finland; Mary McAleese (No. 58) president of Ireland; Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (No. 100) president of Liberia; and Micheline Calmy-Rey president of the Swiss Confederation just to name those currently in office. This list does not include prime ministers.

For full list of 100 most powerful women and their profiles visit: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/11/biz-07women_The-100-Most-Powerful-Women_Rank.html

Clinton stated she "embodies change"

"Change" in the debates
By Eleanor Glynn Kjellman January 5, 2008 11:30 PM Boston Globe

The boys were at it again tonight in a sort of tag team effort to accuse Hillary of being incapable of bringing about change -except for Bill Richardson who made the case for experience being important.
Hillary's comments about change- she has been a change agent for 35 years - from the special education law in the 70's right up to last year fighting Bush and the Pentagon in getting health care for the National Guard. She stands on her record and it is one that proves she knows how to make change happen in Washington. I liked her pointing out that she "embodies change"- she will be the first woman president - a huge change - one that is overdue in the US.

For full article visit: Boston Globe
Photo from NY Times article

01 Janauary 2008...

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to the first appointed/elected female head of state in the world!

Khertek Anchimaa-Toka was born 1 January 1912 to a poor family in what is now Bay-Tayginsky Kozhuun of Tuva. Anchimaa-Toka became Chairperson of the Presidium of the Parliament of the Republic of Tunna Tuva in 1940, making her the first woman in the world to be appointed or elected as head of state. She held the position until 1944. After that, she remained politically active as a vice-chairman of the Regional Executive Committee, and then a vice-chairman of Tuvan Council of Ministers. She retired in 1972.

The New Year 2008, sixty plus years after Anchimaa-Toka's term, rang in with only 12 countries having female prime ministers and/or presidents.

Eight countries have female Presidents:
Argentina, Chile, Finland, India, Ireland, Liberia, The Philippines, and Switzerland.

Four countries have woman Prime Ministers:
Germany, New Zealand, Mozambique, and Ukraine

Also three counties have reigning queens: Denmark, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom (the Queen of the UK is represented by female Governor Generals in Antigua and Barbuda, Canada and Saint Lucia, who function as their countries' de-facto Heads of State and The Netherlands Antilles has a female prime minister).

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elected_or_appointed_female_heads_of_state
http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/

The First American “petticoat politician” to Run for President

“We’ll overthrow this bogus Republic and plant a government of righteousness instead!” roared Victoria Woodhull in 1872 as the first female to run for president in the USA.

Although virtually ignored by history, Woodhull was well-known in her day. Woodhull was not merely a politician; she and her sister were the first female stockbrokers on Wall Street, she was the publisher of a newspaper, a lobbyist, a social reformer, lecturer, and a mother of two.

Her political platform extended beyond women’s rights. Woodhull ran as presidential candidate of the Equal Rights Party, which supported not only women's right to vote and work, but also supported nationalization of land; cost-based pricing to reduce excessive profits; a fairer division of earnings between labor and capital; the elimination of exorbitant interest rates; and free speech and a free press.

To learn more about Victoria Woodhull visit:
http://feministgeek.com/teaching-learning/woodhull/

America’s Victoria: Remembering Victoria Woodhull is a recent documentary film chronicling the life of this 19-century American feminist, which is now available on DVD from Zoie Films.
http://www.zoiefilms.com/homevideo.html

To view film clips about Woodhull including
HerStory - Victoria Woodhull (3:08), and
Victoria Woodhull Short (2:50) visit:
http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1243622980

To learn about women and the American presidency visit American Women Presidents, a national political action committee (PAC) dedicated to electing women to the U.S. presidency. Their presidential hopefuls for 2008 included Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

Benazir Bhutto, first female prime minister of an Islamic nation, assassinated 27 December 2007

“‘They don't want democracy. They don't want me back and they don't believe in women governing nations, so they will try to plot against me,’ Ms Bhutto said before her death, at the political rally she was attending.” ABC News

“Ms Bhutto followed her father into politics, and both of them died because of it - he was executed in 1979, she fell victim to an apparent suicide bomb attack.”

“Like the Nehru-Gandhi family in India, the Bhuttos of Pakistan are one of the world's most famous political dynasties. Benazir's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was prime minister of Pakistan in the early 1970s.
His government was one of the few in the 30 years following independence that was not run by the army.
Born in 1953 in the province of Sindh and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Ms Bhutto gained credibility from her father's high profile, even though she was a reluctant convert to politics.
She was twice prime minister of Pakistan, from 1988 to 1990, and from 1993 to 1996.”
“Young and glamorous, she successfully portrayed herself as a refreshing contrast to the overwhelmingly male-dominated political establishment.” BBC News


“Police officials say Ms Bhutto was shot in the neck by her attacker before he blew himself up in a suicide attack outside the rally.
She succumbed to her injuries in hospital but it is not known if it was the gunshot wound that killed her.
Her body was flown to Sukkur town from Islamabad in a C-130 military aircraft, accompanied by her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and their three children shortly after they arrived from Dubai.
The body will be taken to her native village of Garhi Khuda Baksh, in Larkana district, where she will be buried next to her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. ABC News
For full stories visit:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2007/07/30/1991458.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2228796.stm

Biography:


Bhutto was the daughter of the politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was the leader of Pakistan from 1971 until 1977. She was educated at Harvard University (B.A., 1973) and subsequently studied philosophy, political science, and economics at the University of Oxford (B.A., 1977).
After her father's execution in 1979 during the rule of the military dictator Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, Bhutto became the titular head of her father's party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), and endured frequent house arrest from 1979 to 1984. In exile from 1984 to 1986, she returned to Pakistan after the lifting of martial law and soon became the foremost figure in the political opposition to Zia. President Zia died in August 1988 in a mysterious plane crash, leaving a power vacuum at the centre of Pakistani politics. In the ensuing elections, Bhutto's PPP won the single largest bloc of seats in the National Assembly. She became prime minister on Dec. 1, 1988, heading a coalition government.

Bhutto was unable to do much to combat Pakistan's widespread poverty, governmental corruption, and increasing crime. In August 1990 the president of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, dismissed her government on charges of corruption and other malfeasance and called for new elections. Bhutto's PPP suffered a defeat in the national elections of October 1990; thereafter she led the parliamentary opposition against her successor, Nawaz Sharif.

In elections held in October 1993 the PPP won a plurality of votes, and Bhutto again became head of a coalition government. Under renewed allegations of corruption, economic mismanagement, and a decline of law and order, her government was dismissed in November 1996 by Pres. Farooq Leghari.

Voter turnout was low in the 1997 elections, in which Bhutto's PPP suffered a decisive loss to Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League party. With British and Swiss cooperation, Sharif's administration continued to pursue the corruption charges against Bhutto. In 1999 Bhutto and her husband, the controversial businessman and senator Asif Ali Zardari—jailed since 1996 on a variety of additional charges—were both convicted of corruption by a Lahore court, a decision overturned by the Supreme Court in 2001 because of evidence of governmental interference. Bhutto did not achieve political accommodation with Gen. Pervez Musharraf's seizure of power in a 1999 coup d'état; her demands that the charges against her and her husband be dropped were denied, undercutting negotiations with the Musharraf government regarding a return to the country from her self-imposed exile. Facing standing arrest warrants should she return to Pakistan, Bhutto remained in exile in London and Dubai from the late 1990s.

Because of Musharraf's 2002 decree banning former prime ministers from holding a third term, Bhutto was not permitted to stand for elections that same year. In addition, legislation in 2000 that prohibited a court-convicted individual from holding party office hindered her party, as Bhutto's unanimously elected leadership would have excluded the PPP from participating in elections. In response to these obstacles, the PPP split, registering a new, legally distinct branch called the Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP). Legally separate and free from the restrictions brought upon the PPP by Bhutto's leadership, the PPPP participated in the 2002 elections, in which it proceeded to earn a strong vote. However, Bhutto's terms for cooperation with the military government—that all charges against her and against her husband be withdrawn—continued to be denied. In 2004 Bhutto's husband was released from prison on bail and joined Bhutto in exile. Just before the 2007 elections, talk began to circulate of Bhutto's return to Pakistan.

Shortly before Musharraf's reelection to the presidency, amid unresolved discussions of a power-sharing deal between Bhutto and Musharraf's military regime, he finally granted Bhutto a long-sought amnesty for the corruption charges brought against her by the Sharif administration. The Supreme Court challenged Musharraf's right to grant the amnesty, however, criticizing it as unconstitutional; nevertheless, in October 2007 Bhutto returned to Karachi from Dubai after eight years of self-imposed exile. In December she was assassinated while campaigning for elections called for January 2008.

Source: http://search.eb.com/women/article-9079076

About Petticoat Politics Website

Petticoatpolitics (PCP) website is intended as a forum to create awareness about women’s roles in politics/government around the globe and throughout history.

PCP does not endorse any political parties or candidates. The participation of political candidates in the forum is welcome.

Visitors, both female and male, are encouraged to email or post their thoughts, comments, questions, articles, links, and/or book and movie reviews. All articles must include documentation of sources.

Photo: Auckland New Zealand of women waiting to vote 1925. New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote in 1893. To learn more visit http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/Gallery/suffragists

MADAME PRESIDENT DOCUMENTARY FILM coming spring 2009

WOMEN AT THE HELM

“This very important project tells the story of women Heads of State is one which has rarely been told. The film's goal is to reveal who these women leaders are and heighten their visibility as we bring their stories forth in a compelling and inspiring documentary and series." states Kim Mance, Director of External Relations at the Council of Women World Leaders.

For more information and to view trailer visit http://www.kimmance.com/madamepresident.html

The documentary features eleven female heads of state: Michelle Bachelet from Chile; Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf from Liberia; Angela Merkel from Germany; Tarja Halonen from Finland; Helen Clark from New Zealand; Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from Philippines; Han Myung-Sook from South Korea; Mary McAleese from Ireland; Luisa Diogo from Mozambique,
Aung San Suu Kyi from Burma and Pratibha Patil from India.

(Photos L to R: Helen Clark, Angela Merkel, Han Myung-Sook, and Luisa Diogo)

SWEDEN ranked #1 in 2007 Gender Gap Index

According to the 2007 Global Gender Gap Report:
"The five Nordic countries, which also perform consistently well in the World Economic Forum’s competitiveness rankings, all continue to hold a place among the top 10, with Sweden (1), Norway (2), Finland (3), Iceland (4) and Denmark (8) in the same positions as last year. While no country has yet achieved gender equality, Sweden, Norway and Finland have all closed over 80% of the gender gap and thus serve as a useful benchmark for international comparisons.”

At the bottom of the list of 128 counties indexed are Saudia Arabia (124), Nepal (125), Pakistan (126), Chad (127) and Yeman (128).

The United Kingdom ranked 11th, Canada 18th, South Africa 20th and the United States ranked 31st just above Kazakhstan (32) and well above Russia (45) and France (51). Ranking is based on four categories: Economic Participation and Opportunities; Educational Attainment; Health and Survival; and Political Empowerment.

While the USA ranked 14th in Economic Participation and Opportunities, and 36th in Health and Survival, it came in 69th in Political Empowerment (just behind Ethiopia) and 76th in Educational Attainment.

These rankings can be interpreted in several ways. For example one possible explanation for the USA's low rating in Political Empowerment might be that women in the USA are too busy taking advantage of economic opportunities to get involved in government compared to the women of Ethiopia, the United Emirate, Zimbabwe, Tunisia and the other counties that ranked higher than the USA in Political Empowerment for women, but lower in other categories. Or perhaps there is a correlation between Educational Attainment and Political Empowerment.

The ranking for Political Empowerment is based on the ratio of women to men in parliament and in ministerial positions, and the number of years a female has held position as head of state in the past 50 years.

Sweden, which ranked # 1 overall and in Political Empowerment, has not had a female head of state since Ulrika Eleonora whose reign was 1718-1720. (See above portrait) But Swedish women have 47% representation in parliament and hold 52% of ministerial positions. The Swedish government has actually set national objectives for gender equality, which are delineated on Sweden’s official government website.

“The main objective of the government's policy is that ‘women and men shall have equal power to shape society and their own lives’. A prerequisite to accomplish this is that women and men enjoy the same opportunities, rights and obligations in all spheres of life.”

Listed among the objectives are equal pay and ending violence against women as well as “an equal distribution of unpaid care and household work. Women and men shall take the same responsibility for household work and have the same opportunities to give and receive care on equal terms.”

The objectives do not mention education, but in Sweden the educational level of women exceeds that of men.

We look forward to your comments.

For more information on what Sweden is doing to promote gender equality visit:
http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/4096

To read the full Global Gender Gap Report 2007:
http://www.weforum.org/en/about/Women%20Leaders/index.htm